Time is going
The Stig’s time out here is drawing to a close, with only ten days to go now. It has been a really good time though. It hasn’t always been easy in fact a lot of the time it has been hard going. But throughout this time God has been there all the way. Leaving here won’t be easy because of wanting to stay on for a longer time, however the Stig is looking forward to coming home to see people again. So this post is going to be looking at some of the significant highlights of time out here, what God has been doing and some funny stories that haven’t quite made it here yet…
First up one of the highlights from being here has been living in a community sense, not just with flat mates but also with all the workers, there is a sense that everyone loves and cares for one another and that none of us are perfect we all have are struggles that’s a huge comfort because it means you know that you’re not facing challenges alone.
Sleep
A lot of people know that the Stig isn’t a great sleeper. But out here there has been some change. The Stig hasn’t had a bad dream for around 6 weeks, this has meant being able to go to sleep without worrying about what will be dreamt of. Although still not a great sleeper the stig is defiantly having better nights of sleep now.
Sharing
The stig has been able to have many conversations about Jesus out here. it isn’t easy to go deep without the native tongue thogh, however the stig trusts in God for someone to come alongside them and do this in the right way. Memorably sharing a couple of weeks ago in a café it was as if the stig was back on Alpha. But also being aware that though this you see the hold I*&%m has on people and how dark that can be. Sometimes you share with someone and it doesn’t go well. The Stig doesn’t worry because he has two things in mind, the success rate of giving out leaflets is so low yet 1000’s of companies still do it so it must be successful. Secondly what the bible says “the angels rejoice over one soul that turns to Jesus” so why worry? Just keep doing all things for Jesus.
Sharing has also been about talking about ourselves and testimonies, the stig has shared his journey a lot the last few years. Out here the stig has continued to do so. But it has also been with the community in different settings, one week stands out at the beginning where there was opertunity to share testimonies and what we wanted to get out of the time here. For the stig it was wanting direction as to where to go in the next few years , is this a long term call? Also to get an understanding of how life is for workers out here and some of the things that are faced by them here.
Personally
God has taken a sledge hammer to the stig in a lot of ways out here, in his character and how he is and how he functions. A lot of this has meant looking into the Stig’s past and forgiving people. It hasn’t always been easy a lot of pain has been released and for the first time in over a year the stig has been able to cry about some things. However this is a good things and part of the healing process. This has also been balanced out by nights laughing in the spirit with others. The times when the Stig is scared to deal with things he know doesn’t worry but rembers God knows what he is doing and isn’t going to put you in a place where you can’t handle it. the time out here has been a time of being taken apart for the stig, but it means that God can rebuild him in better ways for the future.
Team
So the Stig is the only one from his native country here, at first it felt slightly isolating, but actually its proved not to be at all, it has been a laugh whether its learning what an eggplant is, teaching words such as lorry or telling them how not to swear (this was by accident but proved to be rather funny) the meetings have been a great source of learning but also of friendship and drawing near to God. The Stig got up to his old trick of helping with words on some nights. Some of the time with team has just been about having a laugh and a good time and that’s needed. Particarly if there has been a bad day with Arabic and you need to unwind with some fun.
Soo much more!
There has been so much more that has happened here from meeting with locals to also the touristy things so the Stig is going to leave a list below of some of these things for you, feel free to ask about any of them
Micro buses, koshari (Food), taxi journeys, hotty, cave church, graves, ain soukna, pyramids, al azhar, Egyptian museum, Alexandria, shenagains, flat mate banta, lifts, metro
God bless see you soon Stig xx
P.S there is a video in the making from here.